Strawberry towel
by El loopy
Summary: In the end its her innocuous strawberry patterned towel that prompts them to go and bring her back. Potential missing scene from episode 5 'A rice ball in a fruits basket'. Oneshot.


Strawberry towel

It was back on the towel rail again.

Yuki spotted it out of the corner of his eye as he turned from the sink and felt that strange little lurch as he remembered that she was gone. Such a small innocuous item, a white fluffy towel patterned with strawberries, to cause such thunderstorms of emotion. He became conscious once again of the ache inside him. Not quite in the stomach, not quite in the chest. He wouldn't be able to place a hand over it. It was somewhere deep inside, coloured a dark, bruised purple and when he reached out to brush the edges he wondered if this was what sorrow felt like, or maybe it was just loss. He didn't want to examine it too closely – he knew the cause was Tohru's absence. Her smiling face at breakfast, always bright and cheery, even as he dragged himself about barely awake. Her eagerness to help in the garden despite the pouring rain. Her puzzled expression as she poured over that evening's homework. Her kindness, gentleness and enthusiasm. He had never met anyone like her. His own life was so full of shadows and secrets, and he had only really known other people with lives of shadows and secrets. Miss Honda was refreshing. Yuki knew that Kyo felt her absence too, even though he didn't say anything. That stupid Cat was so emotionally dense he didn't know what he was feeling, so instead chose to be irritable and angry with everyone. Yuki scowled at the wall, letting the annoyance pass over as his gaze fell on the towel again.

It was so very…Tohru.

" _I love strawberries."_

" _I thought you might. That's why I'm planting them."_

Yuki gave a little start. Was the towel the reason? He'd thought she'd like strawberries because she had them on her towel?

His fingers almost reached out to touch it, but he drew them back, shaking his head. He was getting as bad as Shigure. He didn't think the towel really would smell like Tohru. Shigure just liked to be provocative. Still…

Yuki's feet took him into the study. Her card sat there, as small and innocuous as her towel and yet he spotted it immediately.

"Well, are you going to take it?" The Rat started. Shigure sat at his desk, pen tucked behind his ear, chin resting on steepled fingers. There was an irritating, knowing look in his eyes and in the quirk of his smile.

"I'm just going to drop by and make sure she'd settled in all right."

Yuki's fingers reached out and plucked up the card.

"You better bring her back."

Both pairs of eyes flashed to the Cat skulking in the doorway, hands thrust deep in his pockets. The uncertainty dropped out of Yuki's voice, instantly replaced by scorn.

"I'm going to see if she's all right. I'm not forcing her to come back against her will. Stupid Cat."

Kyo's temper flashed.

"Bet you wouldn't even ask her. Bet you wouldn't even think to. You'll just stand there and be all polite and stuff and then leave without her. What's the point in that?"

Yuki cut a glare at the Cat, voice dark and derisive, "and I suppose you'd, what? Drag her back, kicking and screaming if necessary?"

Kyo flinched back a little, gaze flicking to the floor.

"Yeah, well, at least she'd be here, where she belongs."

Yuki had no reply. _'Belongs'_. Yes. That fitted neatly with the empty bruise inside of him.

"Kyo has a point you know." Shigure, all but forgotten by the pair, now leaned back languidly in his seat. "Not about the kidnapping of course, but…did any of us actually ask Tohru what she wanted? _Really_ ask her?"

Stunned silence fell.

' _No, I just…I just assumed…her family…but she_ was _living in a tent…'_

' _I thought she would've said what she wanted. Should've known. Stupid girl never does…'_

Shigure, having thrown the metaphorical fat into the fire, sat back and watched it burn. The two young Sohmas had every thought marching across their faces in the most entertaining fashion. He wanted Tohru back as well of course. There was something refreshingly different about her, and her influence on Kyo and Yuki was startlingly positive, as well as amusing, plus he was already missing her cooking. The difficulty was that he couldn't very well go fetch her himself. That would indeed look…strange…at best. No. Better to provoke his two young charges to do it, a plan that was working splendidly.

"I'll go see her first thing in the morning," Yuki murmured with a subdued quietness. "I'll ask her."

"Like hell," Kyo snarled, "you'll probably not ask her right and she'll be all 'I'm okay' even if she isn't. I'll go."

"Really?" Yuki purred darkly. "I don't think so. Taking someone from their home by force is a crime you know."

"I wouldn't…"

"Why don't you both go?" Shigure's serene smile cut the argument down dead. Silence reigned; Yuki's head dropping against his chest in despair, Kyo's mouth wide in protest. "I think that both your qualities could be of use here."

Yuki surrendered before Kyo.

"Fine, but I'm going first thing, so you better be ready Cat, or I'm leaving without you."

Kyo's smile was all teeth. "Oh, I'll be ready Rat Boy. Not giving you the excuse to leave me behind."

Shigure watched their argument with resigned despair, but if they managed to bring Tohru back between them, it would be worth it.


End file.
